Animals left to starve at home

A MYSTERY woman suspected of leaving five rats to starve to death and two cats trapped and living in filth is being hunted by the RSPCA.

Officers from the animal welfare charity, accompanied by police, broke into a flat on Granville Road, Southcote, to discover the remains of four dead rats in a filthy cage - one of which was being eaten by the sole survivor - and two cats trapped on a balcony without food

or water.

They quizzed the property owners and were told that a woman in her late 20s had been going round to take care of the animals, prompting them to launch an appeal to find her.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: "The cats were trapped on a balcony without any food or water and the conditions they were living in were appalling.

"They were surrounded by several inches of rotting rubbish, bags, beer cans and their own faeces. It was absolutely disgusting.

"Out of five rats only one managed to survive by eating the others."

Neighbours called to say the animals had been seen out on the balcony and were unable to escape. The RSPCA then began monitoring the flat to see if anyone was coming to provide food or water.

When it became obvious that no-one was going to arrive, the police were called and the charity's

inspectors rescued the animals on June 10.

All three surviving animals have now been re-homed, but the charity is still working to discover precisely why they were left to starve.